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On the Road to Vratnica
Skopje, August 14th 2001
During the recent armed conflicts in Macedonia,
many communities have found themselves surrounded by forces from the "other
side" which have limited their movements, deprived them of supplies
and effectively cut them off from the rest of the country. These conditions
have lead to a severe worsening of the humanitarian situation of thousands
of people in these areas.
Providing humanitarian aid for the vulnerable
people in these locations is one of the primary goals of the Macedonian
Center for International Cooperation (MCIC), a partner of ACT International.
For some months now, both Lipkovo and Sipkovica, where
the so-called NLA operates, have been surrounded by the Macedonian security
forces. From July, Vratnica has been in the opposite situation, as this
area is controlled by Macedonian security forces but is surrounded by
the forces of the so-called NLA.
By the beginning of August, Vratnica had become a new
priority for humanitarian intervention. Vratnica is a community of around
five thousand inhabitants living in six villages, with an almost equal
number of ethnic Macedonians and Albanians. It is situated on the Tetovo-Jazhince
road and the area borders Kosovo. This road is the front line between
the so-called NLA, who occupy the north side of the road, and the Macedonian
security forces who are holding the south side. The community was cut
off from the rest of the country for more than four weeks and the people
sent out an appeal for help. By the end of July, the International Committee
of the Red Cross considered it unsafe to deliver humanitarian aid to Vratnica.
Nevertheless, on the last day of July a symbolic delivery of aid was made
to Vratnica with the help of the Coordination Crisis Management Body (CCMB)
of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.
This encouraged MCIC to organise a humanitarian convoy
for Vratnica. After three days' preparation, approval was received from
all involved parties. For security matters, MCIC coordinated with the
Crisis Management Center, (the operational body of the CCMB), the European
Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM), and the OSCE. A precise specification
of the aid was provided, as well as details of the vehicles and escort
personnel. MCIC was ready to go.
On August 4th, five trucks with forty tonnes of aid
in the form of basic food products, vegetables and hygiene products, set
off from Skopje heading for Vratnica. The convoy was led by Aleksandar
Krzhalovski, humanitarian activities coordinator, and myself. We were
accompanied by three television crews, including the national MTV. Just
before Tetovo our convoy was joined by representatives of the EUMM and
OSCE. Segundo Martinez, the leader of the EUMM team, confirmed that the
Tetovo-Jazhince road was open.
We moved on to the centre of Tetovo and then to the
city's football stadium. The last police checkpoint is here, on the junction
of the Tetovo-Jazhince road. It was a short distance to Poroj and Dzepchishte,
both NLA strongholds. All was peaceful.
After a few kilometres more, we arrived at our first
destination, the village of Leshok. The people of this ethnic Macedonian
village were forced to evacuate their homes under pressure from the so-called
NLA in the fighting of 23/24 July, but about fifty residents returned
after the signing of the ceasefire. We supplied them with bread because
they were afraid to go the stores in the surrounding Albanian villages.
We ventured further, past Tearce, which was the scene of fierce fighting
just ten days before, and where immediately after the fighting the first
meeting of representatives from both ethnic groups took place in an attempt
to achieve mutual guarantees of security.
It was about midday and we were more than halfway to
our destination. All was going well, until suddenly we came across a blockade
of tractors about 100 metres ahead. We stopped immediately. Men, women
and children were standing behind the tractors, and in a matter of minutes
there were about 150 people in the crowd, some carrying placards. We learned
that we were in the ethnic Albanian village of Dobroshte, only a few kilometres
from our destination of Vratnica.
The EUMM observers in the leading vehicle left their
car and started towards the barricade. They began a discussion with the
people blocking the road which went on for about an hour. The people said
they were unhappy because the aid was intended not for them, but for Vratnica
which they claimed did not need any assistance. Meanwhile, two buses had
been brought into the blockade. After about two hours, the news came through
that the "Chief" was coming. The man duly appeared, with about
thirty armed young persons, none of whom had any badge or mark on their
uniform. For a while, they even tried to hide the fact that they were
armed. The "Chief" demanded that the convoy be searched. The
EUMM team informed us that they did not have the right to carry out a
search, but if they were in our shoes they would not resist armed men.
The EUMM agreed to have the search performed in their presence. As my
vehicle was being searched, the man who was given this task found my floppy
disks and asked me what I needed them for and what information I already
had on them. He did not hear out my response that they were for my digital
camera. "I know you", he said. " You are either a major
or a colonel in the Macedonian army. I did my nine months' service in
it". Not succeeding in finding anything in the vehicle, he returned
to me. "Why don't you bring any help for Sipkovica?" he asked.
My attempt to answer again remained unheard. All this was recorded in
Albanian as it happened by two local television stations, whilst we were
not allowed to take photographs. The local television was only interested
in what the people blocking the road had to say. They were not interested
at all in what we had to say.
The search lasted an hour and the "Chief"
then gave us his decision: we had to turn back. For the rest of the day,
strong reactions to our experience were expressed.
Todor Petrov, leader of the World Macedonian Congress, threatened to react
by blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to ethnic Albanians. Boris
Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia, issued orders for
military action to secure the Tetovo - Jazhince road, which had already
been guaranteed under the terms of the last cease-fire. The next day,
"Fakti", an Albanian-language daily newspaper, revealed that
the convoy had been blocked because the Macedonian government had refused
to permit deliveries of aid to Sipkovica. The implication was that as
long as aid was not provided for Sipkovica, there would be no help for
Vratnica neither. A response to Todor Petrov's threat came in the form
of a new threat to cut off the water supply from Lipkovsko Lake, which
is controlled by the so-called NLA, to Kumanovo, a city of 100,000 inhabitants.
All this demonstrates how humanitarian aid has now
become a part of the conflict. By increasing the threat to the civilian
population, the escalation of the situation continues. To stop this escalation
it was necessary to complete the initial action - delivery of aid to Vratnica.
This action could lead to the end of the blockade of Sipkovica, an improvement
of the security along the Tetovo-Jazhince road, and could contribute to
the building of mutual trust.
On August 7th, we assembled our convoy for Vratnica
for the second time at a petrol station outside Tetovo. Representatives
from CCMB, EUMM, OSCE and NATO joined us at about 1p.m. They were unsure
about the security situation because there were reports of fighting in
the vicinity of the road at the village of Neproshteno, which lay on our
route. Consultations began. Time passed. The level of nervousness increased,
made greater by the presence of a dozen newspaper teams. The convoy was
the main point of the interest for the Macedonian public and all television
channels carried reports of it in their news bulletins. By about 3 p.m.
we had received guarantees and the convoy was ready to move. But by this
point, the tension was too high for some, and four of the truck drivers
refused to continue on the mission. Therefore the convoy started out for
Vratnica reduced by one half, but with the most important cargo - the
basic food items. We took the same route as the last time. The representatives
of NATO, OSCE and CCMB drove in front of us. As we reached Dzepchishte,
a car overtook us and blocked the road in front of us. Very soon a tractor
joined the blockade, and the people from the car called the people from
the nearby teashops to join them. Once again, we had been stopped by a
civilian blockade. Bedradin Ibraimi, the Minister for Labour and Social
Policy, member of the Democratic Party of the Albanians, arrived on the
scene in about ten minutes and talks began. This time they lasted only
a short while and ended without success, so with a feeling of real disappointment
in our hearts, we turned the convoy round and prepared to head back to
Tetovo. At that point we saw a jeep approaching. I recognized the "Chief"
from the previous blockade. He asked for Segundo Martinez, leader of the
EUMM team. They withdrew and had a ten-minute conversation. Later the
reporters claimed that the "Chief" was in fact Commander Daut
Redzepi of the so-called NLA. Martinez informed us that they would let
the convoy through. Their request to lead the convoy was declined, but
they still guaranteed our safety. At last, some good news. We headed for
Vratnica as fast as we could. The night was closing in and we had to be
back before dark.
We reached Vratnica and drove up the narrow streets
to the village centre. Hundreds of people were gathered to greet us there
with tractors ready to transport the aid to the outlying villages. I delivered
several individual packages sent by friends and relatives from Skopje.
After exchanging greetings we had to speed up the unloading. They told
us that the aid had arrived just in time, because the local store was
empty and some families only had supplies to last them a day or two. The
newspaper and television teams took their pictures and then headed off
in search of personal stories. And there was plenty of stories to be heard
on the square. A number of people came to me with various problems, or
just to make conversation. An elderly man asked if he could join the convoy
on the return journey, because his wife had a pacemaker and needed treatment,
but there was no doctor in the village. The only medical care was offered
by a dentist assisted by a medical student who happened to be spending
his vacation in the village. There were also two elderly people who said
they were American citizens, on vacation in their birthplace. Many other
refugees from this area are not prepared to come back until security and
peace are restored. But there are people who think otherwise. A thirty
year-old man approached us with his head bowed down. He asked us whether
we could take his wife and two daughters, one aged five and the other
five months, to Skopje. He asked if they could join our convoy at the
end of the village. He was embarrassed and he did not want his neighbours
to see anything. "I will stay", he said.
Meanwhile one truck, escorted by my colleagues Aleksandar
Krzhalovski and Gramoz Shabani, and the NATO team, set off for Jazhince,
an ethnic Albanian village right on the border with Kosovo. Aleksandar
was looking for Muso, our local contact, who was to take delivery of the
aid. He found him in the village teahouse with a group of villagers, who
seemed suspicious. They exchanged greetings in Albanian and Gramoz explained
our mission. The villagers relaxed a little and said that up to now, they
refused to believe they would receive any help, or that it would be only
symbolic.
By 7 p.m. we had completed all our tasks and we hurried
to re-form the convoy and head back to Tetovo, and then to Skopje. We
reached Tetovo at dusk. The reporters rushed off to Skopje to file their
reports, but the rest of us stopped again at the same petrol station where
our day had started. An unpleasant surprise was waiting for us. One of
the truck drivers said shots were fired at him during the return journey
about 3 km from Vratnica, near the of village Odri. One bullet ended up
in the bonnet. The driver himself managed to keep up our good spirits
by telling us that this was nothing compared with his experience driving
a truck in Basra, Iraq, during the Gulf War. We were all elated and relieved
that we had completed our assignment successfully.
Saso Klekovski
P.S. One week later, the first humanitarian convoy
arrived in Sipkovica, organised by El Hilal. MCIC and El Hilal made an
agreement for further joint convoys in areas where access is limited.
[Hold cursor over pictures for
detailed description]
all pictures except no.5 by Filip Antovski
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